While staffing a table at a “family empowerment” fair at my son’s school last month, I thought: These are the rewards and limitations of parent and community engagement in schools. On the one hand, some parents were getting information that may bolster their children and families, contributing to educational success. On the other, I, and we, should be reaching so many more parents.
The rest of life, including blogs, is kind of like that.
While my time in the education blogosphere has been brief (but what’s not on the internet?), I am now sadly and excitedly moving on to another platform to foster voluntary involvement in our schools and our society more broadly. Because of a new position as senior policy analyst for Independent Sector, the national coalition of nonprofits, foundations, and corporate giving programs, and my just-released book, Measuring America, I am ending my brief blogging career here at Education Week. Whether—or when&wdash;another writer will take over the blog is unclear but, for me, anyway, this is my last post.
If you care about how Americans can contribute to make ours a better society, in schools and elsewhere, it is critical to strengthen the institutions that help us engage with our communities, our fellow citizens, and their needs. That’s what I’ll be playing a part in doing at Independent Sector. I urge you to check it out or email me at andrewy@independentsector.org.
I have worked on education issues for a long time, as a reporter at The New York Times, at the U.S. Department of Education, and several think tanks, and, when not working on them, have organized play in my son’s preschool, overseen his school newspaper, chaperoned his field trips, and been active in his schools and their PTAs.
Few, if any, things are more important than education and cultivating knowledge, or engaging and giving to make our children thrive. I hope that whoever reads this will always make it a priority to give of their time and resources to our children, our nation, and our world. As someone must have said: What else are we here for?
Thank you.
